It's Friday everyone - and that can mean only one thing! It's the weekly news round-up - the third!
Harmonix make an FPS
If your first reaction to reading that headline was "lol, wut?" you're not alone. Perennial music game makers Harmonix, perhaps best known for their plastic instrument waving, button mashing rock-a-thons Guitar Hero and Rock Band, have announced a brand new project this week that's a radical departure from anything that's come before. A free-to-play (yeah, we know), PC exclusive first person shooter, Chroma is a close-quarters, arena based multiplayer game that promises to take the dubstep gun to a whole new level, letting you "use music as a weapon". Whether it's blasting a baddie with Brahms or shooting some Steps at a sniper, quite how it'll play out is anyone's guess - and let's face it, the dubstep heavy trailer isn't in too much of a hurry to answer our questions. Anyone interested can sign up for the chance to play an early, test version of the game at playchroma.com
Disney Infinity gets a new add-on
While this week's New York Toy Fair may have been somewhat lacking in Skylanders news, and failed to shed any more light on a true Disney Infinity sequel, as was heavily rumoured last week, it did bring with it news of the latest Disney Infinity figurines. As you're likely aware if your little one has dragged you, wallet first, to your nearest video game emporium, Disney's take on Skylanders, Disney Infinity, lets you use real life toys in-game - all you have to do is place the figure on the game's very own portal, and your character will magically be playable in game. The next property to get the toy-to-game treatment will be the "Good in that it's better than most of the other rubbish on the Disney Channel", Phineas and Ferb, which is set to get its very own "Toy Box" pack. Coming with both an Agent P and a Phineas figure, along with two Power Discs that'll let players access special items, the pack will launch on the 4th of April - or, in other words, quicker than you can say "PERRY ZE PLATTYPUS!"
The PS4 launches in Japan
Soon.
Breaking the age old tradition of us getting everything last, you may be surprised to learn that Sony's latest console, the PS4, has yet to launch in Japan. It's even more surprising when you remember Japan is Sony's home territory. Still, regardless of their reasons, on the 22/2/2014 (or in other words - tomorrow), the Playstation 4 will be on sale in Japan - and if you've ever wondered what a Japanese console launch looks like, you can find out for yourself, as Sony have been kind enough to broadcast the whole thing, live, on Ustream. Expect lots of craziness, and plenty of peace signs. If you're still considering making the jump for yourself, why not check out our reviews of the console's two main launch titles - the co-op platformer Knack, and the snorefest Killzone Shadowfall
Sacred 3
Fans of co-op role-playing, magic, and bearded dwarfs rejoice, as publisher Koch Media have announced that they'll be bringing another slice of drop-in, drop-out hack and slash goodness to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 at some point in the near future. "The paramount development goal for Sacred 3 has been to create a seamless online and offline co-op experience", said Remy van Leeuwen, Deep Silver's Brand Manager, which is perhaps strange, as the co-op features aren't actually as well rounded as its closest competitor, Diablo III. While Diablo supports four players on the same console, making it perfect for when you want a night of looting, levelling, and bashing orks with a shiny swords, Sacred 3 will only support two players in local co-op, and four online. We're still interested - but that seems like a bit of an oversight.
Twitch plays Pokemon. Chaos ensues
And last, but most certainly not least, comes news of a "social experiment" that's been taking the internet by storm. Known as "Twitch plays Pokemon", as, well, it features the denziens of Twitch playing Pokemon, this about as entertaining as it is completely bizarre. Essentially, what the creators have done is hook up an emulator running Pokemon Red, and then wired it up to the chat function on Twitch. By writing up, down, left, right, A, B, or Start, viewers on Twitch can directly control the game - which works fairly well when there's only a handful of players, but seeing as, at the time of writing, there are almost 50,000 people playing, you can imagine the anarchy that's ensuing. Proving the theory about monkeys and typewriters, the collective conscience of the internet has so far managed to earn four gym badges, with veteran's battle stories spreading like wildfire. The game's Helix Fossil, which can be turned into a Pokemon at a science lab, has become something of a deity on the internet now, while Pidgeot (or as he's been dubbed, "Bird Jesus") will never look the same again. Why not take a look for yourself at the live stream here.
